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Warm up the bus: Miles City faces longest first round playoff road trip

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Posted at 10:00 PM, Oct 26, 2022
and last updated 2022-10-27 19:25:05-04

MILES CITY — Imagine you’re a member of the Miles City football team.

Congratulations! You’ve qualified for the State A playoffs as the fifth seed out of the East.

Your reward?

A 529-mile one way trip to Columbia Falls for a first round matchup with the Wildcats. A journey that Google Maps estimates will take approximately eight hours and 20 minutes. Bus travel can be considerably slower and that’s before you factor in pit stops, practice time, unpredictable weather and whatever other obstacles a long Montana road trip can throw at you.

This is the reality of playoff road trips on Montana, a massive state. Here are some shorter road trips by comparison.

  • Miles City to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: 463 miles
  • Miles City to Denver, Colorado: 511 miles
  • Miles City to Moorhead, Minnesota: 466 miles

Though Miles City faces the longest distance, fellow Class A team Libby is not far behind. The Loggers are bound for Laurel, 520 miles away. At the 6-Man level, the Circle Wildcats also top the 500 mile barrier with a 508 mile trip to St. Ignatius.

There are no trips that will take less than two hours, with White Sulphur Springs having the shortest trip at 154 miles to face the Roy-Winifred Outlaws.

Check out the tables below for complete distances and travel times for Montana High School Association football playoff games as calculated by Google Maps.

CLASS AA


MATCHUP

MILEAGE

HOURS

Senior at Glacier

447 miles

7 hours, 11 mins

CMR at Sentinel

168 miles

2 hours, 52 mins

Butte at GFH

165 miles

2 hours, 51 mins 

Big Sky at Gallatin

207 miles

3 hours, 21 mins

TOTALS

AVG: 246.75 miles

AVG: 4 hours, 4 mins

CLASS A


MATCHUP

MILEAGE

HOURS

Miles City at Columbia Falls

529 miles

8 hours, 20 mins

Libby at Laurel

520 miles

8 hours, 23 mins

Havre at Whitefish

256 miles

4 hours, 32 mins

Frenchtown at Dillon

187 miles

2 hours, 50 mins

TOTALS

AVG: 373 miles

AVG: 6 hours, 1 min

CLASS B


MATCHUP

MILEAGE

HOURS

Missoula Loyola at Townsend

149 miles

2 hours, 33 mins

Fairfield at Shepherd

261 miles

4 hours, 18 mins

Manhattan at Bigfork

348 miles

4 hours, 57 mins

Baker at Glasgow

223 miles

3 hours, 35 mins

Cut Bank at Huntley Project

340 miles

5 hours, 30 mins

Whitehall at Florence

168 miles

2 hours, 47 miles

Red Lodge at Malta

280 miles

4 hours, 40 mins

Eureka at Jefferson

298 miles

5 hours, 4 mins

TOTALS

AVG: 258 miles

AVG: 4 hours, 11 min

8-MAN


MATCHUP

MILEAGE

HOURS

Park City at Drummond-Philipsburg

287 miles

4 hours, 45 mins

Charlo at Belt

233 miles

3 hours, 49 mins

Forsyth at Superior

450 miles

7 hours, 28 mins

Lone Peak at Culbertson

496 miles

7 hours, 41 mins

Cascade at Joliet

254 miles 

4 hours, 14 mins

Fort Benton at Fairview

345 miles

5 hours, 37 mins

Chinook at Ennis

328 miles

5 hours, 20 mins

Circle at St. Ignatius

508 miles

8 hours, 20 mins

TOTALS

AVG: 363 miles

AVG: 5 hours, 56 min

6-MAN


MATCHUP

MILEAGE

HOURS

White Sulphur Springs at Roy-Winifred

154 miles

2 hours, 29 mins

North Star at Broadview-Lavina

254 miles

4 hours, 51 mins

Noxon at Valier 

287 miles

4 hours, 53 mins

DGSG at Medicine Lake-Froid

384 miles

6 hours, 5 mins

CJI at Hot Springs

267 miles

4 hours, 32 mins

Bridger at Richey-Lambert

310 miles

4 hours, 37 mins

Custer-Hysham-Melstone at Highwood

285 miles

4 hours, 36 mins

Savage at Big Sandy

354 miles

5 hours, 58 mins

TOTALS

AVG: 287 miles

AVG: 4 hours, 45 mins